PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK.

2-3) 1

Almost four decades ago, Donald Russell published in this journal an analysis of the
first sixteen chapters of the Life of Alkibiades, which consist largely of short self-
contained anecdotes about Alkibiades' childhood, youth and early career (Russell
1966b). As Russell demonstrated, most of these anecdotes are juxtaposed without any
causal link. Although there are the occasional chronological markers - indications, for
example, that Alkibiades is getting older and passing from childhood to early manhood
- some are plainly out of chronological order and it is impossible to extract a clear
chronology from them.2 Russell argued, however, that to try to extract such a chrono-
logical narrative would be to misunderstand the function of this material, which is not
to provide a narrative of Alkibiades' early years but rather to illuminate and illustrate
his character.
Russell's argument, in particular the stress on Plutarch's interest in character, was
seminal; together with two other papers published at roughly the same time, it marked
the beginning of a new appreciation of Plutarch as an author of literary merit.3 But
Russell was rather less convinced of the logic of selection of the first five anecdotes,
which relate to Alkibiades' youth and comprise some one-and-a-half pages of Teubner
text (Alk. 2-3). His analysis ran to a mere six lines:

Some shape is given to the three childhood stories in 2 by eTrei 8' el? TO |j.av6dveiv
f)Ke (2.5), which marks a new stage of education. All show Alcibiades in a
favourable light, as a proud and spirited boy. But this order is followed by
something like chaos. The two stories (3) from Antiphon's XotSopim form a sort
of footnote; the first of them, which is a love story, has not even been integrated
into the general context of epamicd to which Plutarch now turns.'4

The purpose of the present paper is to explore these five anecdotes in more depth in
order to assess their function both within the anecdotal section {Alk. 2-16) and within
1
Much of the spade-work for this paper was done at the British School at Athens in the Winter of 2000. It
was completed during a term as Tytus Visiting Scholar in the University of Cincinnati in the autumn of
2002. Versions of it were given at the conference of the International Plutarch Society in Nijmegen (May
2002), and at seminars in Cincinnati (November 2002) and Reading (February 2003). I am grateful to
Paul Cartledge, Christopher Pelling. Philip Stadter and the anonymous reader for PCPS for their helpful
comments, and to Diotima Papadi for her proof-reading of the final version.
2
As Russell (1966b) 42-3 (= (1995) 200) noted, the chronological markers in some cases give the
impression of a chronological progression which is actually false. See also Frazier (1996) 76-8.
1
Russell (1963; 1966a; 1966b): all reprinted in Scardigli (1995). Russell's influential book (1973) soon
followed.
4
Russell (1966b) 39 (= (2002) 194-5).
90 TIMOTHY DUFF

the Life as a whole. I hope to demonstrate that Russell's analysis, brilliant as it was,
did not do justice to the richness of these early stories. They are carefully constructed
to fulfil three functions. First, they introduce the reader to the character of Alkibiades.
They refine and flesh out the explicit statement of character given in 2.1, but they do
more than this: they actually serve themselves to construct Alkibiades' character -
through his own actions and words and the reactions of others to him. Secondly, these
anecdotes signal and prefigure key themes which will be central to the Life which
follows. Thirdly, these anecdotes introduce key images: like Aeschylus in the Oresteia,
Plutarch constructs character, creates meaning and gives unity to his text through the
repetition of dominant imagery. As will become clear, these stories make heavy
demands on the reader, who is constructed here as a literate and sophisticated
collaborator in a shared biographical endeavour.

Plutarch and the childhood anecdote

As is well known, Plutarch frequently uses anecdote to indicate or explore character.

His most famous statement of this occurs in the prologue to the Alexander-Caesar,
where he warns the reader not to 'quibble'5 if he does not recount in full all of the great
events (i.e. the military doings) of the careers of Alexander and Caesar.

For there is not always in the most outstanding of deeds a revelation of virtue or
vice, but often a little matter like a saying or a joke hints at character more than
battles where thousands die, huge troop deployments or the sieges of cities.

Plutarch claims that, like a portrait-painter who concentrates on the face and the
eyes 'by which character is hinted at', so too he will concentrate on what he calls
'the signs of the soul' {Alex. 1.2-3).6 The Alexander-Caesar prologue implies, then,
that apparently minor details about the subject, and in particular their sayings, can
provide fruitful material to reveal character.7 Such anecdotes or other characterising
material are indeed common both in the Alexander-Caesar and in the Lives in general.
They can occur at any point in a Life, but are often concentrated at one of two points:
either at the start, where they usually relate to the subject's childhood or early
years, or at the high point of the subject's power or success.8 In both cases, such
5
ovKo4>avT£iv. the translation is Pelling's (2002b) 276-7.
6
On this prologue see Duff (1999) 14-22.
7
Cf. Cato min. 24A el 8e Set pr|8e TCI (UKpa TUV f|0aSv aT||iei'a TrapaXnreli', akmep eiKova ijiuxfjj
utToypaifwuei'oug; 37.10 TaOTa \iev ovv oi>x ^|TTOU ol6[j.eyoi TIOV ijTTai6pa)i> Kai ^eyaXuv irpd£euv irpos
evSeL^Lv riOovj KCU KaTav6T)aiv exeiv nva aa<j)r\veiav, em TrXeov 8ir|\6o|_iev.
8
Childhood anecdotes: e.g. Cic. 2.1-5; Them. 2.1-3; Alex. 4.8-10.4 (with Stadter (1996)); Cato min.
1.3-3.10; Demetr. 3.1-4.5. Characterising anecdotes at the high point: e.g. Lys. 18.4-19.6; Them. 18.1-9;
Cic. 24.1-27.6. See Polman (1974).
 PLUTARCH ON TH E CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 91

anecdotes are usually presented either without regard to chronological sequence at all
or with only a very loose chronological framework: what is important is the character
traits revealed.9
We might expect anecdotes about childhood to give some sense of character
development: specific events, for example, which traumatised the subject and
influenced him psychologically or emotionally, or stories which are revealing of the
influences at work on the young child: a parent's affection, for example, or lack of it,
events or experiences which might be thought to have contributed to the way the subject
turned out later.l0 Plutarch was certainly capable of this kind of analysis, and does on
occasion do it: he points, for example, to Coriolanus' special relationship with his
mother {Cor. 4.5-7), or the effect on Themistokles of Miltiades' success at Marathon,
which gives him sleepless nights (Them. 3.4)." But, as Pelling has demonstrated, such
analyses are in fact rare.
Plutarch is more interested, it is true, in education. Particularly for Roman subjects
education is used both as an item of evaluation in its own right and as an explanation
for later success or failure.'2 But generally even Plutarch's analyses of education, where
they occur, are perfunctory. What exactly a subject gained or did not gain from his
education, for example, is rarely explored: a mere statement of its presence or absence,
and occasionally a remark on whether it included artistic subjects as well as the
practical, is normally all we get.13 In the Perikles there is some sense of influence, that
Perikles' character developed the way it did because of contact with his teachers (Per.
4-6), but the anecdotes told - his calm submission to a heckler's abuse, for example
(5.2) - are used to illustrate this character rather than to explain it. Indeed, the particular
events mentioned in Per. 4-6 certainly did not actually happen when Perikles was a
child but belonged to a later period of his life.14 The early anecdotes of the Perikles, in
other words, are not told as formative experiences which changed him; instead they
provide evidence of what his character was like and would remain. In general, then,
we can say of Plutarch that, where childhood experiences or influences are invoked,
the purpose is not really to explain why a particular individual developed the way he

' As with the anecdotes in the first chapters of the Alkibiades, chronology is often obscure in such groupings
in other Lives. It is hard to abstract a chronology from e.g. the Perikles before chapter 9, or in the section
on his statesmanship at the height of his power in 15-23 (Stadter (1989) xxxviii-xl, 187 and 209; cf.
Steidle (1951) 152-66). Similar might be said of the Phokion before chapter 12 (Bearzot (1985) 17-21
or (1993) 92-6). On Plutarch and chronology see Russell (1973) 102-3 and 115-16; Duff (1999) 312-13.
10
The classic studies of Plutarch's treatment of childhood are Pelling (1988a) and (1990a), to which this
paragraph is much indebted.
1
' Cf. Duff (forthcoming, b).
12
E.g. Cor. 1.4-5; Cato Maj. 23.1-3; Mar. 2.2-4; cf. Phil. 1.2-7.
13
On education as an important theme in Plutarch, especially in the Roman Lives, see Pelling (1989); Swain
(1989) 62-6; (1990); (1996) 140-4; Duff (1999) 76-7. On the relative lack of information on what exactly
it consisted of or how it affected the subject's development see Pelling (1990a); (2002b) 321-2. For the
contrast between artistic/intellectual and practical education see e.g. Them. 2.1-7; Cic. 2.2-5; Phil. 3.1-5.
14
Stadter (1989) 68.
92 TIMOTHY DUFF

did; rather anecdotes from childhood are deployed in order to give early indications of
the adult character.15
Childhood anecdotes, then, most often assume a static character and are deployed
to reveal and prefigure the character-traits which will be more prominent later in life.
In Plutarch, they often perform a second, more 'literary' function, related to the
structure of the text in which they are placed: they introduce the reader to and prefigure
broader themes and images which will recur as the Life progresses. A good example
of Plutarch's use of the anecdote both to characterise the subject of the Life and to
introduce important themes is provided by the stories told about Alexander the Great's
childhood (Alex. 4.8-10.4). Most noticeable is the story of his taming of the horse
Boukephalas in Alex. 6, which illustrates Alexander's courage and ambition, as well
as prefiguring the theme of conquest and of the necessity that Alexander's spirited
nature, like Boukephalas', be trained and controlled.16
Another good example of such prefiguring anecdotes is provided by the two stories
told about the young Themistokles in chapter 2 of his Life:

a Se TOUTCOV e^apTdkriv evioi 8ir|yr||iaTa TrXaTTovTes', dn"OKX|pu£iv \iev UTTO TOU

uaTpos" auToO, Sdvarov 8e TTJ? M.T]Tp6? eicoiiaiov em TTJ TOO TTCUSOS' dTi|iia
TrepiAimmi yevo|_ievr|s\ 8oKei KaTetfjeuaGat, Kai Towavrtov eioiv ol XeyovTes",
1
OTl TOO T& KOLVa TTpaTTeLV dTTOTpeTTWV CtlJTOV 6 TTaTT)P eTTeSfLKVDf TTpOS TTJ

6aAdTT7] Ta? TraXatds' Tpnpeis 1 eppi\i[ievag Kai Trapopaj|jivas', ws" Sf) iced TTpo?
Toils' 8r|fj.a.ya)yoi)s\ oTav dxpr|aTOL yevcuVTai, Tdv TTOXXOJV 6(J.OLCJS" e x o y ™ v -

As for the fictional stories which some connect with this, that he was renounced
by hi s father and that hi s mother committed suicide in grief at her son's dishonour,
they seem to be false. Indeed there are people who say the opposite, that his father,
wishing to discourage him from pursuing public life, used to point out to him the
old triremes lying on the beach cast aside and overlooked, saying that the people
behave in the same way towards its leaders, when they have no use for them
(Them. 2.8)

The first story, which Plutarch explicitly claims to be false, is that Themistokles was
renounced by his father and that his mother in consequence committed suicide 'at her
son's dishonour'. Plutarch denies the truth of this, but the pattern of rejections,
dishonour and suicide will recur in Themistokles' own life; this story prefigures, then,
15
This is in some ways surprising, as in theoretical discussions, such as Plutarch's On moral virtue, there
is an allowance for change and development of character. Pelling (1990a) 213-24 (= (2002) 301-7) notes
that the rather static characterisation in the Lives may be partly a result of genre: political biography does
in general seem less interested in childhood than do texts about intellectuals.
16
This anecdote and its relationship to the rest of the Life, as well as Plutarch's anecdotal technique more
generally, are explored by Stadter (1996); the anecote is explored by Frazier (1992) 4496-99 as an
example of Plutarch's tendency to articulate his narrative into a series of grandes scenes (see below,
n. 100). It and the preceding childhood anecdote in Alex. 5 are undatable (Hamilton (1969) on Alex. 5.1).
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 93

Themistokles' own end. The fact that Plutarch is prepared both to deny the truth of the
story and at the same time make use of it is a good indication of the function that such
anecdotes perform: their role in highlighting character and prefiguring later themes and
patterns is more important than their reliability. Perhaps the most well-known example
of this is Plutarch's treatment of the tradition of Solon's meeting with Kroisos - he
acknowledges that on chronological grounds it cannot have happened, but justifies its
inclusion by both the number of 'witnesses' to it (i.e. literary authorities) and the fact
that it 'fits Solon's character and is worthy of his magnanimity and wisdom' {Solon
27.1).17 We shall see another example of this use for literary or moral purposes of
material the truth of which Plutarch explicitly questions in Alk. 3.1-2 (below, pp. 106-9).
The second Themistokles anecdote is connected logically with the first - career
advice from his father proves that there was no rift with him - but also thematically,
as it continues the theme of rejection and dishonour. First, the incident characterises
Themistokles indirectly as ambitious for political success, a point repeatedly and
explicitly made in the early chapters - so ambitious his father tries to discourage him.
We should note that the anecdote is not used to explain his ambition; there is no sense
here that this incident, or his father's experiences of an ungrateful people, or his own
musings by the seashore, actually influenced Themistokles' development, made him
more or less ambitious, more cautious or fearful of the people. On the contrary, the
anecdote is illustrative rather than explanatory, and assumes, as we noted earlier, a static
character. Secondly, the anecdote has a function beyond the illustration of
Themistokles' character. It introduces two themes which will be important in the rest
of the text: the navy and popular ingratitude. Themistokles himself would be intimately
connected with the navy; his naval policy would lead to the salvation of Athens. It
would also lead to the beginning of a destructive split between the few and the many,
a major concern of the Themistokles-Camillus pair (Plutarch makes the link between
the naval policy and party-strife explicit in Them. 19.3-5). The anecdote also introduces
the theme of popular ingratitude towards its leaders, and prefigures Themistokles' own
end, rejected by his people, like the ships on the seashore. Indeed this image, of objects
lying neglected on the seashore, is one that will recur and which conveys something
profound both about Themistokles and about the Athens of his time. At the height of
his power, in one of a series of anecdotes, he will look at the bodies of Persians 'cast
up on the shore' (18.2). It is an irony, and an irony which conveys something of the
nature of political life in Athens, that the man who created Athens' navy and led it to
such success would end up himself 'cast aside and overlooked' like the ships to which
Athens owed its salvation and with which his own career was so intimately linked, and
like the bodies of those whom he defeated. The anecdote, then, and the imagery which
is contains, provide an early hint of both later success and later disaster.

17
iTpeirovTa TC3 XoXuvoj fjOei KOU rfjs1 eKelvov p.eya>.o<J>poai>i/r|Si Kai ao^taj dijiov. Similarly in the
Lykourgos, Plutarch rejects apparent evidence that the establishment of the krypteia dated from
Lykourgos' times, on the grounds that it did not accord with his character (Lyk. 28.1-2,12-13). On Solon
27.1 and its implications see Pelling (1990c) 19-21 (= (2002) 143-5); Duff (1999) 312-13.
94 TIMOTHY DUFF

Alkibiades' character

The prefiguring and anticipatory force of childhood anecdotes is nowhere clearer than
in the early chapters of the Life ofAlkibiades. After a discussion of Alkibiades' family,
appearance and voice (1.1-8), all usual features of the opening of a Plutarchan Life,18
the anecdotal section opens with a clear statement of Alkibiades' adult character, the
only explicit narratorial statement of character in the whole Life.

To 8' r|0os- auTou TroXX&s1 \ikv iJorepov, cos" eiKo? ev TTpdyiaaai |ieyd\ois- Kal
TroXuTpoTTOLS", dvofioiorriTas" TTpos auTo Kal p.eTa|3oXds" eTre8e(,£aTO.
8e TTOXXCOV OVTCOV Kai [ley&Xuv TraSwv ev auTW TO 4>LX6VIKOV laxupoTaTov
r\v Kal TO cfuXoTTpcoTOV, cos" 8fjX6v eon. TOLS" TraiSiKois' dTTO|ii/r||j.ovei)|j.ao"tv.

His character later displayed many inconsistencies and changes, as one might
expect in the midst of great matters and varied fortunes. By nature, there were
many great passions in him, but love of winning and love of coming first were
the strongest, as is clear from his childhood anecdotes. (AIL 2.1)

Plutarch is drawing here upon a common ancient distinction between nature ((JHXJLS1)
and character (fiGos1).19 Alkibiades' character is said to have 'later' (iksrepov) displayed
many inconsistencies and changes, 'as one might expect in the midst of great matters
and varied fortunes'. Plutarch seems, then, to blame circumstances, specifically the ups
and downs of Alkibiades' fortune, for this changeability.20
The notion that the stress of great suffering or changes of fortune could alter
character is not unknown elsewhere in Plutarch;21 he will later bring out, in a passage
which recalls this one, how remarkable was Alkibiades' ability to change his behaviour
when it suited the circumstances, though there he cautions that Alkibiades 'did not
receive every change into his character' (ouSe rrdaav 8ex°M-evo? TCO f|9ei |j.eTa|3oXf|v):
some of his apparent inconsistency was mere play-acting for short-term goals (23.5).
Russell was worried that the claim that circumstances were at least partly responsible

18
E.g. Per. 3.3-7; Alex. l.\-\H\ Phot 4.1-5.10; Cato May. 1.1-10; Pyrrh. ].\-3.9;Mar. \.\-~h.\\Demetr.
2.1-3; Ant. 1.1-2.1 and 4.1-5. See Leo (1901) 180-2.
19
The distinction is set out most clearly in the treatise On moral virtue (cf. De sera num. 55Id; 562b). A
person's nature is what he is born with; a person's character is related to his nature, but is affected, for
better or worse, by the kind of life he or she habitually leads, and by the extent to which reason has
moulded it. On nature and character in Plutarch, see Dihle (1956) 6 3 ^ and 84-7; Bergen (1962) 62-94;
Russell (1966a) 144-7 (= (1995) 83-6); Wardman (1974) 132-7; Gill (1983) 472-5 and 478-81; Swain
(1989) 62-4; Duff (1999) 72-8. See also below, n. 21, on character-change.
20
Plutarch consistently brings out Alkibiades' inconsistency and unpredictability throughout the Life: see
Duff (1999) 229-40, and below pp. 110-1. Alkibiades' inconsistency and his ability to make himself
agreeable to those he was with were plainly features of the tradition more generally (e.g. Satyros in Athen.
534b; Nep. Ale. 1.4; 11.3-6).
21
See the passages collected in Duff (1999) 25; on character-change in Plutarch generally see Russell
(1966a) 144-7 (= (1995) 81-6); Swain (1989) 65-8.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 95

for Alkibiades' inconsistency does not sit well with his presentation as having an excep-
tionally versatile character.22 But character in ancient thought is both revealed in and
moulded by action: there is no contradiction in linking Alkibiades' exceptionally
changeable character with the stress of difficult circumstances, nor in saying that not
every change of behaviour changed his character.
More difficult to reconcile with this passage are the final words of the anecdotal
section (16.9), where Plutarch declares of Alkibiades 'So undecided was opinion about
him due to the unevenness of his nature' (5id TT\V TTJ? cfwaecos1 av(x>\m\iav). The phrase
plainly recalls 2.1 and provides a neat sense of closure to the anecdotal section. But it
is striking that here it is Alkibiades' nature which is said to be inconsistent. This might
be the result of nothing more than a loose, non-technical use of the term, though the
inconsistency of terminology may also itself be seen as contributing to the reader's
difficulty in knowing the 'real Alkibiades', the man of inconsistencies. Whatever quite
we make of 16.9, in 2.1 Alkibiades' character is presented as inconsistent, but his
underlying nature as constant and rather easier to define: it contained many different
passions - rather a negative term for Plutarch in such contexts - the most powerful of
which were his 'love of winning' and 'love of coming first'.23 The stories which follow
are introduced explicitly in illustration of this ambition ('as is clear from his childhood
anecdotes').24 As we shall see, however, they have a much wider anticipatory and illus-
trative force, hinting not only at Alkibiades' unpredictability but at much else besides.

The wrestling-match

ev [iev ydp ra TraXcdeiv me£oi)|j.evos', irrrep TOU \n\ Treaetv dvayaywv Trpos1 TO
aTO|j.a T<i 6t|j.(j,aTa TOO me^oflvTos" oio? r\v 8ta<f>ayetv rag
TT\V Xa|3f|v eKetvou KGU e'tTrovTOS" 'SaKveis' w 'AXKi(3id8r| KaGdrrep a!
'OUK eywye' elnev, 'aXK to? ol

For when he was being squeezed in a wrestling-match, to save himself from

falling he pulled up the grip of the man who was squeezing him to his mouth and
almost bit through his hands. The other loosened his grip and said, 'You bite like
a woman, Alkibiades!' 'No I do not', he said, 'but like a lion!' (Alk. 2.2-3)

The first three anecdotes perhaps took their starting-point from Sokrates' brief
statement in the First Alkibiades: 'For you learnt, if my memory serves me correctly,
22
Russell (1966b) 38 (= (1995) 193).
23
On these qualities see Duff (1999) 72-87 with bibliography.
24
Pelling (1996) xlvi suggested that these stories did not really illustrate Alkibiades' desire to win. I have
less problem with seeing them this way than he does, although we are in agreement that the stories in fact
present a much richer characterisation than the explicit narratorial statement had suggested (see below
pp. 110-1). For similar references forward to the narrative itself to back up an initial moral character-
isation, see Per. 2.5; Kim. 3.3; Pomp. 23.6 and 46.4 with Hillman (1994): Flam. 2.5; Mar. 2.4; Ag.-Kleom.
2.9; Arm. 10.5; cf. Quaest. com. 697e.
96 TIMOTHY DUFF

reading and writing, playing the kithara and wrestling. You refused to learn to play
the aulos7 (106e).25 The first anecdote concerns Alkibiades' biting of his opponent's
arm while wrestling. Biting was of course forbidden both in standard wrestling and
in the more violent pankration26 - though there are elsewhere references to and
even pictures of this happening.27 The incident may well not have originated with
Alkibiades: in the Spartan sayings it is told of a nameless Spartan (Ap. Lac. 234d-e).28
But the precise origin of the story is not relevant to the function it plays in this
text. The story illustrates first and foremost Alkibiades' desire to win, which was
stated explicitly in the previous sentence, as well as his cunning;29 note the use of the
Odyssean word TTOXUTPOTTOS' in the previous sentence.30 Secondly, there is a suggestion
of the blurring of gender boundaries: is the reader meant to think that Alkibiades might
be in any sense 'like a woman'? An element of sexual ambiguity will indeed be a
recurrent feature of the Life. In the final chapter of the anecdotal section we are told,
in a striking phrase, of Alkibiades' 'femininities (9t\X{)Tr\Ta5) of purple clothing'
(16.1).31 In the narrative of his sojourn in Sparta he is assimilated with the Achilles
who dressed up in female clothes in the palace on Skyros in order to avoid going to the
Trojan War (23.5-9); a tragic quotation there declares disturbingly 'he is the same
woman as always' (23.6).32 And after his death, his mistress, Timandra, buries him in
her own clothes (39.7). This first anecdote, then, signals a sexual ambiguity in
Alkibiades.

epxiBes yap Sf| cru ye Ka-ra (j,ur||iT|v TT)V e[ir\v ypd|_i|iaTa Kal Ki6api£etv Kal TraXaieiiA ou yap 5f| aiXetv
ye fjeeXej \ia8eiv. The authenticity of the Platonic AIL I should never have been doubted: see Denyer
(2001) 14-26 (pace Gribble (1999), 260-2). In any case, Plutarch certainly took it as authentic - and
alludes to it frequently in his Life of Alkibiades, right from the first chapter (1.3).
Although Philostratos claims that here it was allowed unusually by Spartans (Phil. Imag. 2.6.3). For the
rules of ancient wrestling and pankration, see Harris (1964) 102-9; Poliakoff (1987) 23-63.
A picture on a Panathenaic amphora in the British Museum shows a wrestler or pankratiast biting an
opponent's arm, which seems to be what is envisaged here; the referee's stick is pictured about to descend
to strike and disqualify the rule-breaker (Harris (1964) pi. 17).
In Reg. et imp. 186d it is assigned to Alkibiades. On the tendency of anecdotes to become detached from
their original context see Fairweather (1974) 266-70; (1984) 323-7; Sailer (1980) 73-82; Dover (1988)
esp. 48-9. This tendency is particularly noticeable in Plutarch's apophthegmata collections, on which see
Pelling (2002a); Stadter (forthcoming).
Plutarch presents himself as arguing in Quaest. conv. 638d that wrestling is the most skilful and cunning
of all the sports (Texi'LKUTaToi' Km Trai'oupyoTaTov T&v d9XT||j.dTiov). Poliakoff (1982) 21 -2 n. 20 gives
other references on the need for cunning in wrestling.
TUXaL? TToXuTpoiTois- (2.1). TroXuTpoTroj is used of Alkibiades at 24.5. It is a standard epithet for Odysseus,
both in Homer (Od. 1.1; 10.330) and elsewhere (e.g. Plato, Hipp. min. 364c-5b: with Hesk (2000) 121-2).
A strand in the tradition on Alkibiades seems to have compared him to Odysseus, who in general was
characterised by his cunning and deceptiveness (e.g. Walcot (1977); cf. Brut. an. 987c). Christodoros in
AP 2.85 describes Alkibiades as TToXii(f>pova jifjTiv eyei.pwv, cf. Odysseus in Homer as TroiiaXo|_ir|TT|s
(e.g.//. 11.482; Od. 3.163; 13.293; 22.115).
Athenaios (534d-e) records that, according to Satyros, on Alkibiades' return to Athens from Olympia he
dedicated two paintings of himself by Aglaophon, one of which showed him sitting at the feet of Nemea,
and 'appearing more beautiful than the faces of women'. For some reason Plutarch does not include this
detail when he mentions the painting, which he assigns to Aristophon, in 16.7.
See Duff (1999) 236-7.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 97

Throughout the early chapters of the Life there is a stress on Alkibiades' beauty,
and on his many male lovers which his good looks, combined with his wealth and status,
encouraged. It is no coincidence, then, that the first anecdote is set in a wrestling-match:
wrestling-grounds were a well-known location for men to pick up youths in classical
Athens.33 The language of wrestling, furthermore - and indeed of biting - is commonly
used metaphorically for sex.34 The anecdote prepares the reader, then, for the presence
of Alkibiades' many lovers. It also prepares us for the presence of Sokrates, already
mentioned in the first chapter (1.3). Educated readers would remember Alkibiades'
account in Plato's Symposium of his wrestling-match with Sokrates, which led to
Alkibiades' failed attempt to seduce him (217b-c). Plutarch makes no mention of that
incident in the Life, but their wrestling together is mentioned briefly in 4.4, and
Sokrates' educational influence will itself be described repeatedly with wrestling, and
biting, metaphors.35 Wrestling, then, becomes in Plutarch's Life a site for debate and
reflection on Alkibiades' character: it symbolises his desire to win, his use of underhand
methods, his ambiguous sexuality, the attentions of his other lovers, and the educational
influence of Sokrates. It also signals a contrast with Coriolanus, whose Life is paired
with that of Alkibiades. Coriolanus' wrestling-matches, described in chapter 2 of the
Coriolanus, were real and not educational, and to win them he used his strength and
not his cunning (2.1). Alkibiades is a very different character.
'Alkibiades pulled up the grip of the man who was squeezing him to his mouth
(or6|ia) and almost bit through his hands'. The word or6|j.a and an emphasis on the
mouth recurs repeatedly in the other anecdotes of this chapter.36 The reason is
presumably because Alkibiades' mouth - his words, the beauty and persuasiveness of
his speech - will be such an important part of Plutarch's picture of him. Indeed, several
lines earlier Plutarch has already drawn attention to this very feature, the charm of
Alkibiades' speech and especially of his lisp (1.6-8). Later he remarks on Alkibiades'
rhetorical powers and, again, on the charm of his speech (10.3^4). Numerous examples
of his persuasive speech are included in the Life,37 and in the synkrisis Plutarch picks
out this ability of Alkibiades as one of the qualities which distinguishes him from
Coriolanus (Cor.-Alk. 3.3-6).
His opponent accuses him of biting like a woman (literally, 'as women do');
Alkibiades' replies that he fights - or bites - like a lion. A passage from Lucian's Life
ofDemonax (49) shows that 'lions' was a popular term for wrestlers, at least in the mid-

33
E.g. Aristoph. Wasps 1025; Peace 762-3; Plato, Phaidros 255d and the settings of Charmides and Lysis;
Plut. Amat. 752b-c: see Dover (1978) 54-5, 138; Percy (1996) 113-16; Fisher (1998) 94-104.
14
At great length in ps.-Lucian, Golden ass 7-11 (where the female partner is called Palaistra); cf. also
Aristoph. Peace 896-8; Ekkl. 964-5 with Henderson (1974); AP 12.206, 222. See Henderson (1991)
169-70; Poliakoff (1982) 101-36; Swain (1992) 79-80, commenting on Ant. 9.7 Ku9r|pi? diro Tfj? au-rfj?
TmXaiorpag yuvouov dyairup.evov'.
35
&r\y\i6v (4.2), meCouvToj (4.3), TroXXdj Xa(3dj (6.2); me£a)V ... Kal aua-reXXcov (6.5).
36
KaTa|3aXa>y em aTou.a (2.4), aiiXovs Se (JHJCHOVTOS1 dvGpojirou crr6p.(m (2.5). Toy 8e ai>\bv emtJToji.LCei.i'
(2.6).
37
E.g. 14.1-12; 15.4-8; 17.2-4; 18.2-3; 23.2; 24.2; 25.2; 26.4-9.
98 TIMOTHY DUFF

second century AD; Lucian relates this to their biting.38 So there is a fairly straight-
forward explanation for the reply as Plutarch records it, which would have made sense
to his readers. But lions are more generally associated with heroic prowess (e.g. Iliad
5.638-9 of Herakles); the more common contrast is not with women but with foxes:
lions are fierce and brave and not - paradoxically, given the context - cunning, like
foxes.39 Alkibiades is later associated with another animal, the chameleon - a symbol
of cunning. The reply then sets up in the reader's mind a question about Alkibiades:
what sort of a fighter is he? is he cunning or brave? is he to be admired or not?40
The popular association of lions with masculinity might add to the element of sexual
transgressivity here.41 But lions are also often associated with monarchy or tyranny.42
The fact that Alkibiades might try to make himself tyrant is a feature both of this Life
and of much earlier literature on Alkibiades. Indeed, Alkibiades was famously himself
likened to a lion in Aristophanes' Frogs 1431-2, a passage which itself perhaps alludes
to the simile of the lion-cub in Aeschylus' Agamemnon 730-5 or at least to the
underlying fable - if you raise a lion-cub, do not be misled by its apparent gentleness
and loveliness; it will show its true violent nature when it grows up.43 Plato exploited
both these general associations of lions with tyranny and violence, and perhaps the
Frogs passage specifically, in a speech by Kallikles in the Gorgias.44 Kallikles is
defending the 'law of nature' that the strong rule the weak, and complains that generally
society tries to make the strong conform to its rules:

TTActTTOVTeS" Tods' (3eXTLO"TOUS- KOU € ppt0(ieVe<TTdTOl)9 f||J.COV OCUTCuV, £K

vecuv Xa|j.|3dvovTes\ diaTTep Xlovrag, KaTeTra8ovTes" Te Kal yoT|TeuovTes"
KaTa8ouXoij|_ie6a XeyovTe? (hg TO LODV XP1! f X e L y KaL
TOUTO e o r i v TO KaXov Kal
TO SLKCUOV. eav be ye oi|aou (fiiioiv iKavr\v yevT]Tat e x w y di/ip, TrdvTa TOUJTO.

'When Demonax saw many of the athletes fighting dirty and against the rules of the contest by biting
instead of wrestling, he said, "No wonder the athletes of today are called lions by their supporters'" (OUK
dire I KOTO.)?, e<f>T|, TOUJ vvv aQXiyrag ol Trapau-apTupoOvTeg XeovTaj KaXouaiv).
Pindar, Isthmian 4.49; Aristoph. Peace 1189-90, with the comment of the scholiast; Plut. Sulla 28.6; Lys.-Sulla
3.2. Some other references in Duff (1999) 175-6. On Homeric lion-similes see Schnapp-Gourbeillon(1981).
There may be a play here on the etymology of Alkibiades' name (from d\Kf|, strength): used ironically
by Alkibiades' opponent, justified by Alkibiades' retort.
On lions and masculinity see Polemon 1.194-6 Forster; Forster's index 2.2 (p. 461), s.v. leo; and the
passages collected in Gleason (1990) 404-5.
E.g. Hdt. 5.56; 5.92; 6.131.2; Aristoph. Knights 1037. Hdt. 6.131.2 (Plutarch's source for Per. 3.3) records
a dream had by Perikles' mother shortly before his birth that she would give birth to a lion, which plainly
draws on the rich associations of the animal in ancient thought. See the discussion of McNellen (1997)
who emphasises, through analysis of other occurrences of the lion in Herodotos, its negative implications
for Perikles.
See Fraenkel (1950) 2. 341-2 on the Aeschylean passage and the underlying fable. He believed that there
is no direct allusion between the Agamemnon, Frogs and Gorgias passages but that all show knowledge
of the same basic fable.
In fact 473e, and probably 474a, suggest a dramatic date for the Gorgias of 405 BC, the year of production
of the Frogs, and shortly after Alkibiades' second exile. But other passages suggest other dates, so this
should not be pressed: see Dodds (1959) 17-18. On the Kallikles of the Gorgias as perhaps standing in
some measure for Alkibiades see Vickers (1994); Gribble (1999) 234-8.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 99

dTToo"eiad|ievos- Kal Siappr^as 1 Kal Siacfwycov, KaTaTraTfiaas1 Ta fpeTepa

ypd[i.(iaTa Kal |iayyaveij|iaTa Kal eTrcoSd? Kal v6|ious- TOU? TTapd (pvaiv
', eTravaaTds- dye<f>dvr| Secmon"!? fpeTepos 1 6 8oi)Xog\ Kal evTaOGa
ev TO Tfj? (Jnjcjeios1 8LKOLOV.

Moulding the best and strongest among us, we take them from youth, as though
they were lions, and enchanting them and bewitching them we make slaves of
them, saying that they should have an equal share and that this is good and just.
But if, I think, a man is born with a sufficient nature, he shakes off all these things,
breaks out and escapes, trampling our written codes, tricks, spells and laws, which
are all contrary to nature, and rising in revolt our slave appears clearly as our
master, and then natural justice shines forth. (483e~4a)

We have here the notion of the lion-cub growing up and revealing its truly violent
nature, as well as of the lion as tyrant. The similarity with the Frogs passage suggests
that Plato probably intended Alkibiades to be in mind here;45 he is frequently referred
to elsewhere in the Gorgias.46 At any rate, Plutarch seems to have taken it this way, as
he alludes to the Gorgias passage towards the end of the Life ofAlkbiades: in Alk. 34.7
he presents as the desires of some of the poor that Alkibiades should make himself
tyrant 'overthrowing decrees and laws and those who talk nonsense and ruin the city'
(KaTa(3aXa)v </;r]<JHO"|j.aTa Kal vo\iovg Kal <\>\vapovs aTroXXuvTas' TT\V TTOXLV).47 The lion
image, then, with which the anecdotal section begins, brings to mind both the fable of
the lion-cub, the passage from Aristophanes' Frogs and the passage from Plato's
Gorgias; the implications for Alkibiades are disturbing and far-reaching.
Plutarch returns to the lion image at the end of the anecdotal section, with a quotation
of the Aristophanic lines, with exactly this connotation: fear of tyranny (16.2-3). The
repetition provides a sense of closure to the section. Plutarch makes the point there, as
he does in 6.3, where he refers explicitly to Thucydides' similar pronouncement, that
it was Alkibiades' outrageous personal life which fuelled suspicions that he wanted to
become tyrant (Thuc. 6.15.4; cf. also Alk. 16.7).48 In this the first anecdote of the Life
we have an example of such outrageous behaviour. The reference to lions foreshadows

The stress on the greatness of the man's nature is reminiscent of Republic 491d-2a and 495a-b, which
was also almost certainly intended to bring Alkibiades to mind (see (Duff) 1999, 48-9 and 224-6). Cf.
ps.-Andok. 4.19 (Against Alkibiades), which may be alluding to the Aristophanic passage, if we accept
a date for this work of post-405: Alkibiades thinks 'not that he should follow the laws of the city, but that
you should follow his ways' (lisas' Totg auToO TPOTTOLJ dKoXouBftv df tiiiv). On the question of the date
of ps-Andok. 4 see Edwards (1995) 131-6; Gazzano (1999) 15-56; Gribble (1999) 154-8.
481d; 482a; 519a: see the discussion of Gribble (1999) 233-5. Cf. also 485b-c on lisping, for which
Alkibiades was famous (Plut. Alk. 1.7-8).
Cf. Kallias' words in Gorg. 492c: the laws which prevent the stronger from ruling the weaker are 4>\vapia
Kai ov&evbs a£ia. The allusion was noted by Russell (1973) 127; (1983) 124; Gribble (1999) 275.
On Plutarch's adaptation of Thucydides in 6.3 see Pelling (1992) 18-19 and 22-4 (= (2002) 123^1 and
126-8).
 100 TIMOTHY DUFF

in childhood that peculiar interplay between personal life and politics which was so
characteristic of Alkibiades; fears that his behaviour was tyrannical would lead in the
end to his downfall. It also suggests, right at the start of the Life, the violence and
destruction that Alkibiades will bring to Athens.

Knuckle-bones

6TL 8e iJ-LKpo? OJV eTrcu£ev daTpcryctXois" ev TCU arevwrni), Tfj? 8e |3oXfjs"

raSriKouoTis1 el? airrov, d|j.a£a (f>opTiCijv enrieL. TO |iev ow TTptoTov eKeXewe
Trepip:eivai TOV dyovTa TO £eOyos-- irrremTTTe yap r\ (3oXf| TTJ Trap68w Tfjs"
" |ifi Tret9o|ievou 8e SL' dypoiKiav, dXX' eirdyovTOS', ol \iev dXXoi TratSes'
6 8'' AXKt(3id8r|9 KaTa(3a\d)y em OT6\±O. Trpo TOC £ewyou? Kai
TrapaTetva? eauTov, eKeXeuaev OUTCOS" el (3ou\eTat 8Le^eX0etv, aiaTe TOV fiev
dvOpooTTov dvaKpouaaL TO CeOyos" oTrtato belaavra, roiig 8' L
" auv8pa|ietv Trpos" auTov.

When he was still little, he was playing knuckle-bones in the street, but when
the throw came in due course to him a loaded wagon began to bear down.
Now at first he told the driver of the pair to wait; for his throw had fallen
down in the path of the wagon. But when out of boorishness the driver did not
obey but came on, the other boys scattered, but Alkibiades, throwing himself
on his mouth in front of the pair of horses and stretching himself out, told him
to drive right on over him if he wanted, with the result that the fellow pulled
the pair back in fear; those who saw it, however, were astonished and with a shout
ran over to him.
(Alt 2.3-4)

Immediately following the anecdote of the wrestling-match is the story of

Alkibiades' playing 'knuckle-bones'.49 The idea for this story - whether it is an
invention by Plutarch or by an earlier author - probably came from another
passing remark in the Platonic First Alkibiades (110b).50 In Plutarch's Life, this
story is told once again to illustrate Alkibiades' ambition: he will risk his life in
his desire to win. Forms or cognates of (3dXXco are used repeatedly; Alkibiades
makes a throw and then when a wagon approaches along the road throws himself m its
49
Games involving knuckle-bones were played on the ground either with actual pieces of animal bone or
similarly shaped pieces of pottery or other material. Knuckle-bones are attested in, for example, Iliad
23.87-8; Plato, Theatetos 154c; Plut. Lys. 8.4-5; Praec. ger. 812a. As Kurke (1999) 283-95 brings out,
knuckle-bones were associated with childhood and, unlike dice (KO|3OL), had largely positive associations.
For pictures see Beck (1975) nos. 342-5; for description see Kurkc (1999) and Salza Prina Ricotti (1995)
47-8.
511
Sokrates remembers Alkibiades paying with knuckle-bones (OTTOTC daTpaya\i£ois fj aXXr|V Tivd irai.Si.dv
i ) , and confidently giving out judgements on which boys were cheating.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 101

path;51 the implication is something along the lines of Alkibiades treating his life as if
it were a game of chance. But again there is much more to say. First, a reference to
dice-throwing had occurred in an almost identical point at the start of the Coriolanus
(3.1). The context is Coriolanus' first military campaign, when Tarquinius Superbus,
as Plutarch puts it, 'made, as it were, a last throw of the dice' (eaxcrrov KU|3OV
d(f>ievTL).52 The Coriolanus passage, and this passage from the Alkibiades, would
probably also bring to mind Caesar's famous declaration before crossing the Rubicon,
alea iacta est - or, in Plutarch's Greek, dveppi.cf>6u) KUDOS', 'let a die be cast!' (Caes.
32.8; Pomp. 60.4).53 In the Coriolanus, as in the Caesar, the dice-throw is a metaphor
for war, a war in which all is staked; for Alkibiades the throw is a childhood game, but
even so he risks his life for it. Caesar and Tarquin played for high stakes; Alkibiades'
dice-throwing perhaps suggests that he will gamble later with Athens' foreign policy
and survival.54 These allusions also raise a question: Tarquin was a tyrant; Caesar's
rule became 'acknowledged tyranny' (Caes. 57.1):55 will Alkibiades want to become
a tyrant too?
There is a stress in this passage on the reactions of others to Alkibiades' decisive
behaviour: the other boys scatter, the driver takes fright, onlookers are amazed, cheer
and run to congratulate him (2.4).56 This is a process which will be repeated frequently
in the Life: the amazing popularity of Alkibiades is continually emphasised, though
often together with hints of the fears which this instilled in some about possible desire
for tyranny. At the end of the anecdotal section, people 'used to run with joy'
(oweTp?x ov XaLpovTe?) to see a picture of him in the arms of the goddess Nemea;
older people saw it as 'tyrannical and illegal' (16.7). When Alkibiades returns from
exile in 32.3 the people 'began running with shouts to meet him' (awTpexovreg
efkxov).57 This is followed soon after by renewed desires on the part of the people, and
fears on the part of others, that he might make himself tyrant (34.7-35.1). But

51
Tfj? (3oXfj? ... f] f3oXr| .
52
For the metaphor cf. Fab. 14.2; Pomp. 60.4. The metaphor is not found in Dion. Hal. 8.29, Plutarch's
source for this passage.
53
In fact Plutarch claims in Pomp. 60.4 that Caesar himself said the phrase in Greek not Latin (cf. Suet.
Div. lul. 82.3, where Suetonius has Caesar say not et tu Brute but, in Greek, Kal ov, TEKVOV (with J. Russell
(1980); Dubuisson (1980); Brenk (1998)). The saying dvepplef>9a) KU^O? (perf. pass, imperat.) seems to
have been a proverbial expression, used before one enters on risky ventures: see Javier del Campo Lopez
(1991), adding e.g. Chariton 1.7.1; on the association of the Ki)(3o9 with random fortune see Kurke (1999)
283-7. But after Caesar's time there would also, one assumes, be the possibility of allusion to Caesar.
For the Platonic language of the Rubicon scene see Duff (1999) 79-80.
54
As Philip Stadter has pointed out to me, in Caesar's case there may also be some sort of parallel with
Alexander's dicing shortly before his death (Alex. 76.2).
55
An allusion to Plato's Republic 569b: see Pelling (1997b) 221-2.
56
Toiij & [Sovrag eiarXayiji'at Kai ^eTa $of\S auvSpau.etv upo? airrov. This is Reiske's emendation; the
mss. reading (followed by Flaceliere) is eKirXayfjvai peTa Porjff Kai auv8pa|ietv. But the image of the
people 'running with a shout' to greet Alkibiades is a repeated motif in this Life (see the examples cited
in the text): Reiske's emendation is certainly to be accepted.
57
Cf. 4.1: aiiToO T)]V Xau.irp6TT|Ta TTJS wpa? eKTreirXr|YuivoL Kal 6epairei>ovTes'. On the thoughts of
onlookers as often providing an authoritative judgement on the subject of the Life cf. Pelling (1988b) 40;
Duff (1999) 55, 120.
102 TIMOTHY DUFF

Alkibiades is not to remain always popular, and there may be in the vocabulary with
which the knuckle-bones incident is described a hint of the reversals of popularity
which will follow. The word £ei)yo?, 'team of horses', is repeated three times here. As
the educated reader was no doubt expected to know, Alkibiades was later to be involved
in a scandal over a team of horses, which he was accused of stealing. Alkibiades' son
was prosecuted for this crime, and Isokrates wrote a speech on his behalf entitled On
the team of horses (Tie pi TOU £euyou?: Isok. 16). Plutarch later refers both to the incident
and to the speech (12.3). Perhaps not all readers would notice the allusion; but for those
who do, this anecdote, and the language with which it is described, suggest that the
characteristics of bravery and ambition, and the popularity which they brought, would
later work against him and lead to his downfall.58

Playing the aulos

eirei 8' el? TO |iav9dvei.v fjice, TOI? \ikv dXXoi? tmriKoue 8i8aaKaXoi? emeiKco?,
TO 8' auXetv ecfieuyev w? dyevye? Kai dve\eu6epov TrXf|KTpou \±ev yap Kai Xupa?
Xpfjaiv oi>8ev oirre axT||-iaTo? ome |aop<f>fj? eXeuGepu TrpeTroiicrri? Sia4>6e'ipeiv,
avkobs 8e (f)uadjyTO? dvGpdJTTOU aTO|j.aTi Kai TOU? auvt]9eL? dv Trdvu |i6Xi?
8iayytovai TO TTpoawTTov. eTi 8e TT\V \X€V Xupav TCO xpwpiva 1 au|j.<j>0eyyea6ai
Kai owq&eiv, TOV 8' auXov eTTLaToiilfeiv Kai aTTO(J)pdTTeLv eraaTov, TT|V Te
4>U>VT\V Kai TOV Xoyov d(f)aLpoup.eyov. 'auXe'iTcooay dbv1 e4>r\ '0r|(3ai.wy Tral8e?'
8iaXeyeaGaL yap OUKlaaaiv f\[i.lv 8e TOL? 'Afrr|yaLoi?, cl)? ol TraTepe? Xeyouaiy,
dpxT|yeTL? 'A6r|yd Kai TraTpwo? 'AiToXXtoy eariy, wy f| [Lev eppLif'e Toy auXov,
6 8e Kai Toy ai)Xr|Tr|y e^e8eipe.' ToiauTa TTal^cov d|i.a Kai aTrou8dCcov 6
'AXKLp>v.d&T|s airr&v Te TOU }j.a0f|)_LaTOS direoTTioe KaY Toi)? aWovs. Taxi) 7Q-P
SiijXOe Xoyo? el? TOU? TTatSa?, w? ev TTOLCOV 6 'AXKL(3La8r|? (3SeXi>TToiTo TT)V
ai)Xr]TLKfiy Kai x ^ e u a C 0 L TO£J? piaySdyoyTa?. oQtv e^eueae Kop:i8fj TUV
eXeuGepiuy 8LaTpL(3aiy Kai iTpoeTTr|XaKLa0r| TrayTaiTaaiy 6 auX6?.

When he came to learning, he listened to his other teachers properly, but he

avoided playing the pipes, saying it was vulgar and not suitable for a free man.
For, he said, the use of the plectrum and the lyre did not damage either the bearing
or the appearance which befitted a free man, but when a fellow blows on the pipes
with his mouth even his friends would scarcely recognise his face. What is more,

Cf. Plutarch's words when he introduces the incident of the stolen chariot, 'a slander or some ill-will
which came about in connection with this (f>iXoTi|j.ta provided much for people to talk about' (12.3). The
<J>i\oTi|-ua in question is the eagerness of some cities in the Athenian empire to give Alkibiades gifts (for
this meaning of <f>i\oTi^la see Whitehead (1983) 60-70; Frazier (1988) 114-16 and 125-6), which
allowed Alkibiades to obtain the chariot that belonged to Argos. But the link between Alkibiades' own
ambition, the <J>iX(m(ila of the cities, Alkibiades being talked about, and malice or ill-will towards him
is suggestive.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 103

he said, the lyre articulates and sings alongside its user, whereas the pipe muzzles
and blocks up each man, taking away both his voice and his power of speech.
'So let the children of the Thebans play the pipes', he said. 'For they do not know
how to converse. But we Athenians, as our fathers tell us, have Athena as
foundress and Apollo as ancestral god, and the former threw away the pipe, while
the latter also flayed the piper.' In this way, half in jest and half seriously,
Alkibiades caused both himself and the others to revolt from the lesson. For the
story quickly spread amongst the children that Alkibiades was right to loath
playing the pipe and to mock at those who learnt it. As a result the pipe was exiled
totally from liberal pursuits and was altogether scorned. (Alk. 2.5-7)

This anecdote concerns Alkibiades' rejection of aa/cw-playing, and the consequent

reaction against it by other children. As we have noted, the story perhaps had its origins
in a passing remark in the Platonic First Alkibiades.59 Alkibiades' refusal to learn the
aulos would probably not have seemed particularly controversial to an ancient reader.
Playing the aulos, like playing most other instruments, was not considered a high status
occupation, at least from the fourth century onwards.60 Indeed Alkibiades' explanation
that the aulos takes away the power of speech and his appeal to the mythological
precedent of Athena and Marsyas were commonplace. Both Plato and Aristotle use the
same myth to justify, as Alkibiades' does, the rejection of flute-playing.61 The myth is
not explained; evidently Plutarch expected his readers to know it.
But Alkibiades' explanation of why Athenians should not learn the flute involves
an implicit comparison of himself with two deities, Athena and Apollo, 'of whom the
former threw away the pipe, while the latter also flayed the piper'. Such self-aggran-
disement will be a feature of Plutarch's picture of Alkibiades throughout the Life. In
the final chapter of the anecdotal section Alkibiades again encourages comparison of
himself with deities: he has an image of Eros portrayed on his shield and poses in a
picture with the goddess Nemea( 16.1,7): both of these actions, Plutarch tells us, were
seen by some as betraying tyrannical aspirations and induced wild enthusiasm in others.
But there is an irony too in Alkibiades' choice of this particular myth, concerning as it
does a mortal who vied with the gods, and was punished for it. It suggests a hybristic
side to Alkibiades' own nature and leads the reader to expect a bad end for Alkibiades
too.
59
Alkibiades' relationship to playing the aulos may have been a site of some disagreement. Athenaios (184d)
records a statement of Douris of Samos, in a work on Sophokles and Euripides (FGrH 76 F 29), that
Alkibiades learnt the aulos from Pronomos, who, he says, had become very famous. In fact, Pronomos
is depicted playing the aulos, and named, on the so-called Pronomos vase, which dates from c. 400 BC
(Naples 3240). We cannot be certain to what purpose Douris put this detail.
60
See e.g. Wilson (1999) 74-85. Hence perhaps Athenaios' mild surprise that in former times 'even playing
the aulos was taken very seriously' (iced x\ au\T|TiKf| irepLcnToijSaaTos' f\v). The situation may have been
somewhat different in Thebes.
61
Plato, Rep. 399d-e; Aristotle, Politics 1341b2-8. On the myth see McKinnon (1984) 204-13; Mathiesen
(1999) 178-81; Wilson (1999) 60-6. On the Plato and Aristotle passages cf. McKinnon (1984) 204-6
and 210-13; Wilson (1999) 9 2 ^ .
104 TIMOTHY DUFF

The mention of the flute here might possibly also make some readers think of
Alkibiades' drunken entrance in the Symposium in the company of flute-girls. But his
reference to Marsyas would certainly bring to mind another part of the Symposium,
Alkibiades' extended and eulogistic comparison of Sokrates to Marsyas (215a-16c).
Plutarch evidently expected his readers to know this passage, which is alluded to
frequently throughout chapters 4-6 of the Life.62 The allusion looks forward to the
power of Sokrates' words over Alkibiades, a power which will in chapter 6 be expressed
in language drawn from the same passage in the Symposium (6.1).63
The extraordinary effect which Alkibiades' rejection of the aulos has on the other
boys and on public opinion generally prefigures his later popularity and influence, and
demonstrates the effectiveness of his speech and his charisma. The explanation which
Alkibiades gives centres on the fact that the aulos distorts its player's appearance and
prevents him from speaking or singing: both of which - beauty and a way with words
- are, as we have seen, key elements in the characterisation of Alkibiades. Alkibiades'
manipulation of public opinion is also a feature of his later behaviour. The remarkable
anecdote of his cutting off his dog's tail (9.1-2) functions to bring this out. Its point is
Alkibiades' punchline, 'I want the Athenians to talk about this so that they don't say
anything worse about me' - which suggests both Alkibiades' clever repartee, his self-
centredness, and his love of being the centre of public interest. The closing phrase,
however, also suggests, as does the passage here, that public opinion will not always
be on his side - the Athenians will indeed later have much worse to say about him.
This same combination of extraordinary popularity combined with forebodings of
future reversal will be repeated in a later anecdote narrated in chapter 10, which is
introduced as Alkibiades' first 'entry on to the stage of public life' (irdpoSov e'\s TO
Srpoaiov: 10.1). Here Alkibiades comes forward to make a donation to public funds,
and is greeted with shouts of joy.64 The people are described as 'applauding and

62
For references see Duff (forthcoming, a). Jones (1916) 139-42, and Helmbold and O'Neil (1959)61 list
a few of the allusions to the Symposium in Plutarch's work generally (cf. also Duff (1999) 143-4).
63
E . g . Plut. Alk. 6.1 &TTTO|ieMi)y T U V Xoycuv auToO rat Tr\v rapSiav CTTpe<()6vTa)V Kai Sdicpua €KX(6VTCOI>,
cf. Plato, Symp. 215e biav yap dKowj, TTO\U |IOL jidXXoi' t) roiv Kopu|3avTtu)VT(oi/ fj TE KapSia irr|8a Kai
8aKpua eKxetrai inro Ttiv Xoyaiv Tail' TOUTOU, opai 8e Kai aXkovs Tra^tiroWous1 T<i aina TrdaxovTaj.
Plutarch also makes direct reference to the Symposium passage in Prof, in virt. 84d, when he uses
Alkibiades as an example of one who was properly moved by admiration for a virtuous man, and in
Quomodo adulat. 69f., where he uses Sokrates' behaviour to Alkibiades as an example of the outspo-
kenness which a friend should sometimes use in order to correct the faults of another.
64
The incident which is envisaged here is an epidosis, an appeal for voluntary contributions to the state,
which took place in the Assembly at times of crisis. Theophrastos' Ungenerous Man (6 dyeXeuSepoj)
keeps silent or leaves the Assembly when such contributions are taking place - the opposite to Alkibiades'
behaviour. On epidosis see Pritchett (1974-91)2. 110 n. 286. The version in Praec. get: 799d, which has
the quail (see below) escape while Alkibiades' is speaking, seems to envisage a different context. As
Russell notes, 'the incident is undatable and sounds as thought it may be comic in origin' ((1966b) 42-3
= (1995) 200). Proklos, On Plato's Alkibiades /, 110, gives a briefer but more fantastical version of the
story, as an illustration of Alkibiades' despising money: Alkibiades is a boy and he gives the huge sum
often talents (perhaps based ultimately on the figure often talents for the dowry he received upon marrying
Hipparete: see 8.3). He does not mention the incident of the quail.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 105

shouting in pleasure' (KpaToOyTOS1 rat (3OWVTO9 bty f]8oi/fjs") which is probably to be

thought of as a sexual metaphor: he is a lover of the people, desired by them just as his
real lovers desire him, flattering and using them just as his real lovers flatter and use
him (4.1; 6.1-5).65 But just as he will turn the tables on his real lovers (e.g. 4.4-5.5),
so the people will turn on him.66 While this applause is going on Alkibiades lets escape
a quail, which, Plutarch innocently records, he 'happened to have in his cloak'. The
people once again 'shout' and have great fun hunting for it. 'They say', Plutarch
concludes, 'that the man who caught it and gave it back was Antiochos the helmsman,
who became as a consequence a great favourite of Alkibiades' (10.1-2). Once again
the educated reader will recognise the allusion: Antiochos is the man who will later
precipitate Alkibiades' second exile by disobeying orders and attacking Lysander at
Notion (35.5-8). Plutarch makes clear in his narrative of the events leading up to the
battle of Notion that the people reacted so badly to news of the defeat at Notion because
of Alkibiades' over-popularity, which was such that they were sure that he must have
lost on purpose (esp. 35.2-3). The pleasure and applause with which Alkibiades'
behaviour in this passage and in the knuckle-bone passage is greeted will ultimately be
his ruin.
Indeed, the aulos-slory hints at some reasons for his later fall: a 'story spread'
(8tfjX6e Xoyoj-) that Alkibiades did right in being 'disgusted at' ((38eXi>TTOiTo) the
playing of the pipes and 'mocking' those who learn it. Perhaps his mockery here would
bring to mind his alleged later mockery of the Mysteries. At any rate it is this kind of
fastidious behaviour which in chapter 16 will lead to the 'disgust' ((38eXVJTTeo"9ca) of
the notable citizens at him (16.2), who saw in his affectation a tyrant's ambition.67 In
that final chapter of the anecdotal section Plutarch brings out how it is exactly this -
public opinion - which will be so destructive for Alkibiades later on. The section closes
with the remark of Timon the misanthrope, 'You are doing well to grow up, my boy -
for you will grow to be a great curse on the lot of them', to which 'some began laughing,
others cursed, and others thought deeply about what was said' (16.9). Plutarch
concludes, 'So undecided was opinion (j\ 86£a) about him due to the unevenness of his
nature.'68 The mention of unevenness recalls, of course, the explicit statement of
Alkibiades' character in 2.1, with which the anecdotal section opens, and provides a
neat sense of closure.69 But the story, and Plutarch's comment, also foreground again
65
For the use of the metaphor of eras to describe relations between a statesman and his city or people see
Ludwig (2002).
66
On Alkibiades as sharing many characteristics of the people as presented in this Life, see Pelling (1992)
21-4 (=(2002) 125-8). The metaphor probably calls to mind Plato, Alk. 1132a, where Sokrates says that
he fears that Alkibiades will be corrupted and become a 8r||j.epaaTn,s'. See Denyer (2001) ad loc, who
cites Plato, Gorg. 481d-e; Aristoph. Knights 710-1408.
67
The reader may also call to mind Plato's attack on innovations in children's games in the Laws (797a-8e),
where he suggests a link between such innovation and innovation in moral and constitutional matters.
People, Plato's Athenian maintains, fail to see that such innovators 'having become different themselves
seek a different life, and having sought this they desire different institutions and laws'.
68
OUTOJJ aKpiTo? T\V f) 86£a Trepi ainov Sid TT]V Tfj? (jjuaeco? dv
6
« See above, p. 94-5.
106 TIMOTHY DUFF

the issue of public opinion, both its importance for Alkibiades and its inconsistencies.
He courts it, but will fall by it.
The importance and the fickleness of public opinion is a theme which will also
recur in the second half of the Life. It is a rumour that he profaned the mysteries which
will cause his first exile. Plutarch leaves it unclear whether Alkibiades was really
involved or not (20.8) - but some people believed it and that is what counts.70 He will
return after his first exile to scenes of popular joy (32.3-6).71 But rumours that he
desired tyranny persisted. Plutarch states explicitly that it is unclear whether he really
intended to make himself tyrant (35.1). But once again the important factor was that
public opinion, or some sections of it, believed that he did.72 Thus, when he fails to
capture Andros, the people blame him 'through their disbelief that he [really] had been
unable to do it' (dmoTig TOU |af| 8wr|8fjvai). As Plutarch comments, 'It seems that
more than anyone else Alkibiades was undone by his own reputation' (35.3).73 So when
Antiochos is defeated at Notion, the Athenians turn on him again and exile him. He is
assassinated when in exile through beliefs, both hopes and fears, that he may be able
to make a come-back (38.1-6). Exile, then, and death, are where this courting of public
opinion will ultimately lead him, and it may be that even this is hinted at in the story
of Alkibiades' rejection of the aulos in the choice of the word e£eTTeae in 2.7. The
immediate reference is to the flute 'falling out' of use, but the verb is commonly used
of going into exile. As in all these anecdotes, forebodings of disaster lurk below the
surface.74

Antiphon 's abuses

kv Se Teas' 'Aimc^tovTog XotSopiats- yeypaTrrai, cm TTat? &v e« TT\S OLKLO.S'

dtTTeSpa Trpos" Ar||ioKpdTr|v Tivd TUV epaaTcov, (3ouXo|j.evou 8' avibv
emKTpuTTeiv 'Apicfipovos', ITepLK\f]9 OIK eiaaev elTTwv, el \±ev TeQvx\Kev, f||j.epg
l_ud Sid TO Kf|puy|aa fyaveloQai TTpoTepov, el SeCTWS1eoriv, dawarov airrui TOV
XOLTTOV p[ov eaeaGca, teal OTL TWV aKoXouGwv Tivd KTe'iveiev ev rrj Zi(3upTi.ou
TraAaiCTTpg £uXqj TraTa^ag. aXka TOUTOL? \iev OUK d^Lov Laws1 iTioTetJeLV, a ye
Xoi8opeLO"9od TL? aimi) 8i' exQpav 6(j.oXoyt3v eiiTev.

70
As Murray (1990) 155-6 points out, Alkibiades did not 'parody' the mysteries; his crime was to imitate
them (cf. Plutarch's diTO|iL|-if|aeLs in Alk. 19.1) in the presence of non-initiates and in a private house.
The effect was one of sacrilegious mockery.
71
They run to meet him with a shout: see above, p. 101.
72
avrog [ikv ovv eKetvos r\v eixe Siavoiav irepi rfjj TupawtSoj, d8r|X6v eoriv" ol Se SuvaTUTaToi TOJV
TTOXLTUV <pofir\QevT£s eoTtovSaoav avTov eKirXeOaai Tr|V TaxfcrTr]^, T& T' aXka 4>r|(f>iadu.ei.'oi Kai
aui'dpxovTas' ovg eKelvos f|8e\r|cjev.
73
eoiice 51 e l T L J CIXXOS- UTTO TTJ? aiiToO S o f t s ' KaTaXu9fjyai Kal 'AXifLpidSris-.
74
Compare the anecdote of Themistokles surveying the bodies of the Persians 'cast up' on the shore in
Them. 18.2 (above, p. 93), where the word eKireCTOVTas, may likewise carry forebodings of Themistokles'
own exile.
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 107

In the abuses of Antiphon it is recorded that when Alkibiades was a boy he ran
away from his house to a certain Demokrates, one of his lovers, and when
Ariphron wanted to disown him, Perikles would not let him, saying, 'If he is dead,
it will become known just one day earlier by making an announcement; but if he
is recovered safely, he will be beyond recovery for the rest of his life.' It is also
recorded that he killed one of his attendants in the wrestling-ground of Sibyrtios
by hitting him with a club. But perhaps it is not fitting to believe abuse which
their author admits he told out of hostility to him. (Alk. 3.1-2)

The final two anecdotes of this section are explicitly introduced as being taken
from the 'abuses' of Antiphon.75 Antiphon is cited by Athenaios for an attack on
Alkibiades' use of prostitutes in Abydos, which he places shortly after his being
released from the tutelage of his guardians.76 It is noticeable that Plutarch does
not use that story as one of Alkibiades' early anecdotes, even though the story was
plainly well known.77 This cannot be from any desire to play down sexual material, for
Plutarch does employ it later, where he has Thrasyboulos son of Thrason
denounce Alkibiades after the defeat at Notion for dereliction of duty, 'consorting
with the whores of Abydos and Ionia' (Alk. 36.2). At any rate, the first anecdote here
also concerns a sexual accusation, though one of a potentially even more damaging
nature: Alkibiades, when a boy, ran away from home to join one of his lovers.78 It
is easy to see how an anecdote such as this might have arisen: sexual morality was
always a possible line of attack in order to denigrate one's political opponents. Indeed
we know that Alkibiades was also attacked on sexual grounds by the Sokratic writer
Antisthenes, who accuses him of having sex with (ovvelvai) his mother, daughter and
sister.79

Antiphon of Rhamnous (c. 480-411 BC), perhaps to be identified with Antiphon the Sophist, was a speech-
writer and a leader of the coup of 411, a crime for which he was executed after democracy was restored
(cf. Nik. 6.1). See Gagarin (1997); Dover (1950) 55.
Athen. 525b = fr. 67 Blass-Thalheim. In that fragment, as in Plutarch's citation here, Alkibiades is accused
of sexual immorality in his early life, in this case in Abydos, which is then related to his later behaviour:
eireiSf) e8oKL(ida8r|S' tnro noy emTpoTTWv, Trapa\a(3oJv trap' aimSv Ta aairrou xpiiP-aTa, &x°v aim-nXetiiv
els "A(3u8ov, oijTe xpf°? fSiov aauToO irpa^ojievoj ov&ev OUT? iTpofevlas' ouSepicis' eveKa, dXAd TTJ
aauToO Trapauopla Krai aKoXaaia TTJJ yviii\ir\s 6110101)9 epyui' Tpoirous' p.aGriaopevos' Trapd TCOV kv
'A(3i38a) yuvaiiaov, omog evTOemXoi™ ptu aauTou [del. Wilamowitz] xpTJo'tai COJTOLS. Note the phrase
ev ™ emXoimp plco, which is closely paralleled by Plutarch's TOV XOITTOV fJiov here (3.1): this would
suggest that, whether Plutarch knew Antiphon at first hand or not, his account of these two particular
anecdotes may preserve some of the Antiphonic flavour.
Lysias mentions it (fr. 30 Gernet-Bizos = Athen. 534f).
AT||_ioKpdTT|V [UA: Arip-OKparn T] Tira Tdiv epaaTuv. This is perhaps Demokrates (genitive
ArmoKpd-rous-) the father of the Lysis of the deme of Aixone who is the subject of Plato's Lysis. See
Davies (1970) 359-60. Plato's description (Lysis 204e; 205c), which includes mention of numerous
chariot-victories, makes it plain that the family was very rich. Both first-declension and third-declension
forms of ArpoKpaTru are attested: e.g. Traill (1996) 211-20, but in the light of this possible identification
we should accept the reading of T ArnioKparn.
Kyros or On kingship: fr. V A 141 Giannantoni = FGrH 1004 F 5a-b.
108 TIMOTHY DUFF

But one might wonder why Plutarch has included material so plainly drawn, as he
himself acknowledges, from a one-sided polemic.80 Part of the point must be to suggest
the competing and contradictory valuations of Alkibiades which will be such a feature
of this Life, as it was of the Alkibiades tradition as a whole. For Alkibiades, furthermore,
what mattered was as much what people thought of him as what the reality was, a point
Plutarch frequently makes (above, pp. 104-6); so the doubt attached to these stories is
actually important in itself: public opinion mattered.81 But as we have already seen
(above, pp. 92-3) it is not uncommon for Plutarch to make use of stories or incidents
while at the same time expressing doubts about their reliability - and in the process
indirectly demonstrating his own historical competence. In the same way, then, these
stories are used in order to throw light on Alkibiades' character and prefigure later
themes, and for that their reliability is not of paramount importance.
These two stories from chapter 3 contribute to the picture of Alkibiades' character
in several ways. First they introduce his troubled relationship with his guardians, which
suggests a self-confidence and an unwillingness to respect authority; this theme will
recur in 7.3, where the young Alkibiades declares that Perikles would do better to
consider how he could avoid being accountable to the people rather than worrying about
how to satisfy them. Secondly they introduce the theme of Alkibiades' many lovers
and his inability to resist sexual or any other kind of temptation - which began even
when he was a child.82 The theme of Alkibiades' sexuality will be dealt with at greater
length in chapters 4—6 where Plutarch explores his relationship with Sokrates and with
his 'other lovers'. Alkibiades consistently abandons Sokrates to consort with other
lovers who offer him, as Plutarch explains, not just sexual pleasure but flattery; while
Sokrates humbles him and shows how lacking he is in virtue, they play on his ambition
(6.2-5). Here we see the start of that process. Alkibiades is presented as running away
(dcrreSpa) from Perikles and Ariphron his guardians, just as later he will run away
(SpctTreTeucov) and be hunted by Sokrates (6.1).83
Ariphron, Perikles' brother, wants to make a public announcement of Alkibiades'
disappearance, but Perikles demurs, claiming that such an announcement would ruin
Alkibiades' reputation.84 Perikles' declaration is memorable: 'If he is dead, it will

80
For other examples of Plutarch expressing caution about believing the testimony of a source because of
its writer's bias see Pelling (1990c) 23-4 (= (2002) 145-6); Nikolaidis (1997) 333-4.
81
Esp. 16.9 (n. 68 above). See in particular Duff (1999) 2 2 2 ^ 0 and, on the Alkibiades tradition, Gribble
(1999).
82
iral? &v. TTOIS implies that Alkibiades has not yet reached puberty, but it is impossible to be more specific
than that (Golden (1985); see also Eyben (1996) 80-2). The use of the term trots' in this context might
suggest that Alkibiades was an object of pursuit by lovers as much as it designates his age. On iraij as
used to denote the younger, supposedly passive, partner or object of sexual pursuit rather than as an
indicator of strict age: Dover (1978) 85-7 (cf. Meleagros, AP 12.25 'an eighteen-year-old rats1').
83
diroSi8pdaKO) implies running away by stealth. Cf. Andok. 1.125. discussing the daughter of Isomachos
who, after failing to commit suicide, diroSpdaa eic Tfj? olida? dixeT0- The word is often used of runaway
slaves (e.g. Plato, Kriton 52d).
84
The MSS are divided between the legal term diroKripuTTeiv ('renounce as one's child'; 'deny paternity')
and emioipijTTeiv ('announce' more generally, though also sometimes with the sense of 'renounce,
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 109

become known just one day earlier by making an announcement; but if he is recovered
safely, he will be beyond recovery for the rest of his life' (el 8e aws1 eor'iv, dawaTov
aimj) TOV XOLTTOV (3LOV eaeaSat). 85 The saying reinforces the sense of Alkibiades'
debauched life, which began when he was young. It also introduces the notion that
Alkibiades always managed to 'get away with' - to escape the consequences of- his
bad behaviour. Many of the anecdotes that follow in the next chapters show him
behaving outrageously, but not suffering for it - until later. Indeed Plutarch comments
specifically on this fact in the final chapter of the anecdotal section (16.5), where he
tells us that the Athenians were always ready to forgive and put up with his sins, calling
them pranks (TraiSids1, the etymology is significant) and the products of ambition. Here
is an early example of Alkibiades 'getting away with it'.
The second item of abuse taken from Antiphon is worse: that he actually beat an
attendant to death at a wrestling-ground. The fact that it is a wrestling ground is probably
significant as this shows where his bad behaviour can lead: biting an opponent while
wrestling might seem like a joke and give rise to a clever saying (2.2-3), but Alkibiades
is also capable of clubbing someone to death there too. We have then here a reference
back to the first anecdote, and a sense of closure before the section which focuses on
Sokrates is introduced. Plutarch goes on to cast doubt on the veracity of this report,
which, as we have seen, allows him in effect to 'have his cake and eat it'. It is notable
that the verb in this second anecdote taken from Antiphon - unlike the verbs in the first
- is in the optative Oereiveiev), a rather rare form in Plutarch; the use of the optative
perhaps has the effect of distancing the narrator from what is reported.86
But despite his expressions of doubt and despite the distancing device of the optative,
this anecdote suggests the violence and dangerousness of Alkibiades, characteristics
which lurk below the surface of his charm and flamboyance. This is the man who will
later beat a teacher for not having a copy of Homer (7.1), hit his prospective father-in-
law for a bet (8.1), prevent his wife by force from suing for a divorce (8.5), punch a
rival choregos in the theatre (16.5), and carry a motion to execute all Melian men after
the surrender of their island (16.6). If the first of the anecdotes with which we dealt in
this paper introduced an attractive Alkibiades, the last one reminds us that with him
there is a darker, more violent side.

condemn'). Whichever word is accepted, the meaning is clear: Ariphron - according to Antiphon - wanted
to publicly humiliate Alkibiades. In Athenian law fathers had the right of dTTOKfipi^u, that is the removal
of a son from the family and the denial of the right to use the father's name (in effect a denial of paternity).
This would have the serious consequence of preventing a son from inheriting his father's property. There
was certainly a tradition that this had happened to Themistokles, though Plutarch himself doubted the
story (Them. 2.8; see Frost (1980) 69). The attachment of the story to Alkibiades may have been influenced
by the tendency to compare him with Themistokles (see Duff (forthcoming, b)). But it seems extremely
unlikely that a guardian could disinherit a ward, so what must be implied here is some sort of moral, but
not legal, renunciation. On diroKT|pu£ig see Harrison (1968) 75-7; MacDowell (1978) 91.
85
For this sort of pun cf. Themistokles' words in Them. 29.10, d iratSes-, diroXa>|iE9a av, ei (ir] diroAijj|j.eGa.
86
On Plutarch's use of the optative cf. Hein (1914).
110 TIMOTHY DUFF

Plutarch's cinematic technique

The first of the anecdotes from Antiphon is linked thematically with the next section of
the Life (4—7), which deals with Alkibiades' relationship with Sokrates and his other lovers.
But the transition from the first to the second anecdote, however, is rather jarring; the link
is simply that both are recorded by the same author ('[and it is also recorded] that...').
Much of this paper has been arguing that the themes and images which run through these
anecdotes are closely related to each other and to the rest of the Life. But little else is done
to make the anecdotes seem to run on naturally one from the other. In the other cases the
transition is managed simply by a vague reference to Alkibiades' age ('when he was still
little ... when he came to learning ...'). This is not such a surprise: such anecdote-clusters
in Plutarch often simply pile up stories one after the other in a sort of narrative asyndeton:
take the stories, for example, in Them. 18, which illustrate Themistokles' eagerness for
fame. But here we might see an additional effect of such a staccato structure: the very
abruptness is expressive. Alkibiades can be viewed from so many points of view, his
behaviour is so unpredictable, that smooth links would not convey the essence of a man
who was known for his very unpredictability. This unpredictability and this kind of abrupt
transition are features of the rest of the anecdotal section.87
Plutarch's initial characterisation of Alkibiades is brief and rather stereotyped (ambition,
desire to win at all costs, inconsistency). The first two chapters of childhood anecdotes are
introduced explicitly to illustrate this characterisation: it is not uncommon for Plutarch to
begin with a fairly crude characterisation, which is then fleshed out as the Life progresses.88
The childhood anecdotes, then, put flesh on the bones; they provide a picture of the
kind of outrageous behaviour that Alkibiades' ambition resulted in. But, as we have
seen, they are in fact much richer than the initial characterisation might lead one to
expect;89 they deepen our understanding of Alkibiades' character, introducing notions
such as his ambiguous sexuality and his violence. They also prefigure both the later
results which his behaviour will have, and the themes and images which will be
important in the Life as a whole. While the 'inconsistency' which Plutarch declares
showed itself 'later' is not brought out explicitly, we are given a picture of a man willing
to do anything for success: his later volte-faces, in both character and allegiance, will
seem to sit easily with the characteristics fleshed out here. Thus Alkibiades, for all his
inconsistency, remains, in Pelling's terminology, an 'integrated' character - that is, his
different traits are seen to lead naturally on from each other.90

87
E.g. esp. 7.1-2, 9.1-2, and all of 16.1 argued this further in Duff (1999) 229-40.
88
Pelling (1988a) 268-71 (= (2002) 293-4), on Lysander; (1988b) 12-13, on Antony; (1990a) 228-30 (=
(2002) 310-12), on Alkibiades and Theseus; and esp. (1996), xl v-vi on Alk. 2.1. For the related technique,
which Pelling labels 'narrative delay', in Thucydides, see idem (1991) 121-2 on Thucydides, citing
Connor (1984) 3 6 ^ 8 and 236-42; Pelling (2000) 69, 89-93; Rood (1998) esp. 109-130.
89
For the greater complexity of Plutarch's moral programme compared with what is implied in the explicit
statements cf. Duff (1999) 52-71.
90
Pelling (1988a) 262-74 (= (2002) 287-97); (1990a) 235^*4 (= 315-21); (1996) xliv-ix (on Alkibiades).
Cf. Pelling (1997a) for other such 'consistently inconsistent' figures (citing Rudd (1976) 160-2).
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 111

This can be related to wider ancient conceptions of character. Pelling has emphasised
that in tragedy, although the character-traits of an Oedipus, an Antigone, or a Medea
are in themselves fairly broad-brush and even stereotypical, still the particular
combination of traits and above all the particular actions and choices that each makes
in reaction to the particular circumstances with which each is faced do serve to give us
a sense of something distinctive about each.91 In the same way the childhood anecdotes
serve to individuate Alkibiades: if the opening characterisation gives a rather
stereotyped picture, the anecdotes that follow show just how this kind of drive to win
at all costs worked itself out in the life of one unique individual.92 Indeed the abruptness
and unpredictability of the links from one story to the next suggest nicely the qualities
of unpredictability which will later be so central to Alkibiades' character.
These anecdotes, then, are carefully constructed and play an important role in condi-
tioning the reader as to what to expect of Alkibiades' character, behaviour and fate.
They are in no sense whatsoever marginal to the Life as a whole. That is important to
stress, because there has been a tendency to regard sections of the Lives which do not
give a chronological narrative of political or military events - which are not, in other
words, history as the ancients defined it - as somehow of less importance, less worth
reading. On the contrary, in these stories we find introduced many of the themes and
images which will be developed later. If in the young Alkibiades we see a miniature
version of the adult, so in the stories of the doings of the young Alkibiades we see
prefigured the reactions which he will induce and the fate that awaits him.
And it is to a large extent through imagery and metaphor that Alkibiades' character
is constructed and conveyed. This is a common ancient technique. Ancient writers often
give unity to their texts, or to episodes and to characters within their texts, through
recurring imagery, metaphors or language. Tragedies, for example, use imagery to
define meaning and character: hunting in Euripides' Bacchae, sight and blindness in
Sophokles' Oedipus the King, sacrifice, hunting, dripping blood, wind, disease and,
most spectacularly, the lion-cub which reverts to its savage nature and turns on those
who nurtured it - a symbol for the whole bloody sequence of events in the house of
Pelops - in Aischylos' Oresteia.93 Tacitus likewise gives unity to episodes in his
narrative through the repetition of a dominant metaphor: food and starvation for the
year AD 33, or acting and the stage for the Pisonian conspiracy of AD 65. 94 The imagery

The whole issue of the extent to which ancient writers, especially Plutarch, present stereotyped or indi-
viduated characters is dealt with by Pelling (1988a; 1990a; 1990b) and by Gill (1983; 1986; 1990; 1996).
Pelling's response to Gill's 1996 book, as far as it touches biography, is especially useful (Pelling (2002b)
321-9). On characterisation and tragedy see esp. Pelling (1990b) and the other papers in the
Characterization and individuality volume.
On Alkibiades as individuated, cf. Pelling (1990a) 228-30 (= (2002) 310-11); Duff (1999) 229^0. On
anecdotes as a means of individuating see Pelling's remarks (1997a) 139-40, on Dio Cassius.
See e.g. Gould (1978). On the Oresteia see Knox (1952); Zeitlin (1965); Lebeck (1971) 80-91; Goldhill
(1992) 66-73. On the Oedipus the King see Goldhill (1986) 205-21.
Pisonian conspiracy in Annals 15, Woodman (1993). The point about the year AD 33 is made by Woodman
in a forthcoming paper.
112 TIMOTHY DUFF

of the emperor making war on his own city is used both to suggest the violence of
imperial rule and implicitly a continuity with the civil wars of the late Republic.95
In a similar way Plutarchan Lives often have dominant metaphors and imagery which
may run across one or both Lives of a pair and which convey something of the character
of the subject or subjects.96 Take the imagery of fire in the Alexander. An initial char-
acterisation defines the 'mix' of Alexander's body (f| TOO awjj.aTOS' Kpaai?) as 'hot and
fiery (mipcuSris1)'; this fiery nature explains his peculiar ruddiness and smell (Alex. 4.5).
Once this association of Alexander and fire is made, then the image is deployed to refine
Alexander's character. Recurring fire imagery conveys something of the ambiguity
inherent in Alexander's charismatic dynamism: for example, the description of naphtha
and the setting alight of a slave boy (35.10-16), followed by the burning of the palace
at Persepolis (38.4-6), suggests both Alexander's speed of movement and brilliance
and his violence and destructiveness. Finally Alexander dies, literally 'burns up',
through fever (TrupeTTeLv).97 The metaphor of fire, then, does more than just illustrate
Alexander's character: it defines and conveys it; it adds to our understanding of his
character in ways not conveyed through narrative or authorial statement, and it provides
a unity to the text and a sense of closure. On a smaller scale, the image of ships or bodies
being 'cast up' on the shore both conveys something of Themistokles' psychology and
marks the trajectory of the Life (Them. 2.8; see above, pp. 92-3). In a similar way, then,
the childhood anecdotes of Alkibiades set out imagery and metaphors which define
Alkibiades' character: wrestling, biting, the lion, dice, his mouth, scenes of popular
adulation, lovers, violence. As so often in Plutarch, character is created as much through
imagery as through authorial statement or through action.98
This is more than a literary technique: Plutarch's picture of Alkibiades, carefully
constructed through anecdote and image, has much to offer us in any attempt to
understand the historical Alkibiades. It is true that on one level Plutarch's Lives are not
very accurate - if by accuracy we refer to the reliable transmision of certain key facts,
such as dates, troop numbers, the complexities of political procedures. Plutarch, as has
long been recognised and as he himself admits at the start of the Alexander-Caesar,
did not always put great priority on such things. Indeed Donald Russell stressed that
the few chronological references that Plutarch makes with regard to Alkibiades'

Keitel (1984); Woodman (1992) 185-6.

Cf. Larmour (2000) 269, (citing Pelling (1988b) 21-2 (on Demetr.-Ant.) and Carney (1960) 24-5), on
metaphors as giving unity, and ibid 274, 'Themistocles is, to a significant degree, characterised by
metaphors and similes ...' Larmour then lists some of the similes applied to Themistokles by other
characters within the Life.
See Sansone (1980).
Cf. Hughes (1955) iv, on Aeschylus: 'The issues, the themes, the motives that make for conflict, for drama,
find their most complete expression not in the characters' declarations of fact but in their statements in
symbol, symbol which in syntax, in the circumstances of language, becomes image. Imagery in the
Aeschylean plays does not then simply illuminate or even illustrate drama. In its recall of past events, in
its anticipation of future events, in its definition - not description - of present conflicts it actually creates
drama.' (Quoted by Zeitlin 1965 463 n. 1).
 PLUTARCH ON THE CHILDHOOD OF ALKIBIADES (ALK. 2-3) 113

childhood are misleading; there is no reason to think that Plutarch preserved or wanted
to preserve the chronological sequence in which these childhood events took place."
But accuracy or reliability can consist in more than just chronology. Just as a
historical novel, a play, or a film may capture and communicate the essence of a period,
an event, or a person far more successfully than any number of works of academic
history, so in his Lives Plutarch is able to communicate the essence of the men, the
societies, and the periods about which he writes. To take but one example from
Alkibiades' childhood anecdotes, the image of wrestling - Alkibiades cheating, biting
and behaving 'like a woman' in order to win, and his later psychological wrestling with
Sokrates - conveys something profound and memorable about him. Similar could be
said about the anecdote of Alkibiades' throwing himself in the path of the wagon, to
be greeted with the cheers of onlookers.
The comparison with film - or with the stage - is particularly apposite here: Plutarch
works not by explication or explicit statement, but by presenting us with a series of
scenes, where narrative-time slows and the camera focuses, as it were, on a set-piece
tableau, striking, colourful, and memorable.100 The sense that Plutarch in this latter
scene gives the audience - or viewer - of Alkibiades' reckless impetuousness, and the
wild popular enthusiasm that this produced, together with hints that the people will one
day turn against him, be as fickle and inconsistent as he, communicates something very
profound about Athenian politics in the highly-charged atmosphere towards the end of
the Peloponnesian War. Plutarch does not here make the point about the people's
changeability and the dangers of courting popular favour directly; he does that
elsewhere (e.g. Praec. ger. 799c-d), though it would be left to modern scholars to
analyse this phenomenon in detail.101
But Plutarch's dramatic picture is both memorable, easy to grasp and, in essence,
accurate. As Plutarch himself claimed at the start of Ihe. Alexander, a selective portrait,
which concentrates on 'the signs of the soul', may well capture more of the essence of
the man and his times than a more detailed but less imaginative account.102 Images can
convey more than a thousand words.

UNIVERSITY OF READING TIMOTHY E. DUFF

99
Russell (1966b) 4 2 - 3 (= (1995) 200).
100
The classic analysis of Plutarch's technique of articulating his narrative into a number of set-piece scenes
(grandes scenes) is Frazier (1992).
101
E.g. R. A. Knox (1985); Sinclair (1988) 169-76; Ober (1989).
102
Pelling(1992)29and31 (=(2002) 132 and 133-4) makes a similar point.
114 TIMOTHY DUFF

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